BALLYNAHINCH
WAR MEMORIAL

The
memorial is to be found in Crossgar Road, Ballynahinch, co. Down and
takes the form of an obelisk set on a square base with plaques attached;
the inscription and the names are in white lettering. There are 48 name
slisted for World War 1 only.

Note:
7th (Service) Battalion Formed in Belfast in September 1914, as
part of K2. September 1914 : attached to 48th Brigade, 16th (Irish)
Division. 5 March 1915 : joined by one Company from the Royal Jersey
Militia. 23 August 1917 : transferred to 49th Brigade, 16th (Irish)
Division. 14 October 1917 : transferred to 108th Brigade, 36th (Ulster)
Division. 14 November 1917 : absorbed by 2nd Bn.8th (Service) Battalion
(East Belfast) Formed in Belfast in September 1914, from the Belfast
Volunteers. September 1914 : attached to 107th Brigade, 36th (Ulster)
Division. 29 August 1917 : amalgamated with 9th Bn, to form 8/9th
Bn. 7 February 1918 : disbanded in France.14th (Service) Battalion
(Young Citizens) Formed in Belfast in September 1914, from the Belfast
Volunteers. September 1914 : attached to 109th Brigade, 36th (Ulster)
Division. 18 February 1918 : disbanded in France.14th (Service)
Battalion (Young Citizens) Formed in Belfast in September 1914,
from the Belfast Volunteers. September 1914 : attached to 109th
Brigade, 36th (Ulster) Division. 18 February 1918 : disbanded in
France.

Note:
On the opening day of the Battle of Arras, 9 April 1917, the four
divisions of the Canadian Corps, fighting side by side for the first
time, scored a huge tactical victory in the capture of the 60 metre
high Vimy Ridge. After the war, the highest point of the ridge was
chosen as the site of the great memorial to all Canadians who served
their country in battle during the First World War, and particularly
to the 60,000 who gave their lives in France. It also bears the
names of 11,000 Canadian servicemen who died in France - many of
them in the fight for Vimy Ridge - who have no known grave. The
memorial was designed by W S Allward.

24/07/1918 Rifleman 17/148 Royal Irish Rifles 15th Bn. Age: 35 BERTENACRE
MILITARY CEMETERY, FLETRE Son of William John and Mary Donnan, of
Cahard, Ballynahinch, Co. Down.

DOHERTY

William
J

6/08/1917 Serjeant 4476 Royal Irish Rifles 1st
Bn. Age: 40 TYNE COT MEMORIAL Long Service and Good Conduct Medal.
Husband of Sarah Doherty, of Tullywest, Saintfield, Co. Down. Served
in India and in the South African Campaign.

The
cemetery was made by French troops (as the Cemetery "du Calvaire
de Bertenacre, from the crucifix on the main road), and used in
July-September, 1918, after the Battles of the Lys, by the 36th
(Ulster) Division. After the Armistice the 115 French and two German
graves were removed, and British graves were brought in from the
Royal West Surrey Cemetery, Fletre. There are now nearly 150, 1914-18
and over 30, 1939-45 war casualties commemorated in this site. One
grave from the 1914-18 War, destroyed by shell fire, is represented
by a special memorial. Most of the burials from the 1939-45 War
were men of the 5th Cinque Ports Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment.
The cemetery covers an area of 716 square metres and is enclosed
by a rubble wall. The Royal West Surrey Cemetery, Fletre, was about
460 metres to the South-East. It contained the graves of 42 soldiers
from the United Kingdom killed in an enemy air raid on the 18th
August, 1917 (of whom 38 belonged to the 10th Queen's), and one
Canadian soldier who fell in June, 1918.

Note:
On 1 July 1916, supported by a French attack to the south, thirteen
divisions of Commonwealth forces launched an offensive on a line
from north of Gommecourt to Maricourt. Despite a preliminary bombardment
lasting seven days, the German defences were barely touched and
the attack met unexpectedly fierce resistance. Losses were catastrophic
and with only minimal advances on the southern flank, the initial
attack was a failure. In the following weeks, huge resources of
manpower and equipment were deployed in an attempt to exploit the
modest successes of the first day. However, the German Army resisted
tenaciously and repeated attacks and counter attacks meant a major
battle for every village, copse and farmhouse gained. At the end
of September, Thiepval was finally captured. The village had been
an original objective of 1 July. Attacks north and east continued
throughout October and into November in increasingly difficult weather
conditions. The Battle of the Somme finally ended on 18 November
with the onset of winter. In the spring of 1917, the German forces
fell back to their newly prepared defences, the Hindenburg Line,
and there were no further significant engagements in the Somme sector
until the Germans mounted their major offensive in March 1918. The
Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears
the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom
and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20
March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated
died between July and November 1916. The memorial also serves as
an Anglo-French Battle Memorial in recognition of the joint nature
of the 1916 offensive and a small cemetery containing equal numbers
of Commonwealth and French graves lies at the foot of the memorial.
The memorial, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, was built between 1928
and 1932 and unveiled by the Prince of Wales, in the presence of
the President of France, on 31 July 1932. The dead of other Commonwealth
countries who died on the Somme and have no known graves are commemorated
on national memorials elsewhere.

Note:
This name has proved to be a problem because there is more than
one possibility and no solid evidence to show decisively which soldier
this is. There are 17 Galway’s listed as war dead. Two of the more
promising choices are A. Galway and Edward Galway who both served
with the Royal Irish RiflesThe Menin Gate is one of four memorials
to the missing in Belgian Flanders which cover the area known as
the Ypres Salient. Broadly speaking, the Salient stretched from
Langemarck in the north to the northern edge in Ploegsteert Wood
in the south, but it varied in area and shape throughout the war.
The Salient was formed during the First Battle of Ypres in October
and November 1914, when a small British Expeditionary Force succeeded
in securing the town before the onset of winter, pushing the German
forces back to the Passchendaele Ridge. The Second Battle of Ypres
began in April 1915 when the Germans released poison gas into the
Allied lines north of Ypres. This was the first time gas had been
used by either side and the violence of the attack forced an Allied
withdrawal and a shortening of the line of defence. There was little
more significant activity on this front until 1917, when in the
Third Battle of Ypres an offensive was mounted by Commonwealth forces
to divert German attention from a weakened French front further
south. The initial attempt in June to dislodge the Germans from
the Messines Ridge was a complete success, but the main assault
north-eastward, which began at the end of July, quickly became a
dogged struggle against determined opposition and the rapidly deteriorating
weather. The campaign finally came to a close in November with the
capture of Passchendaele. The German offensive of March 1918 met
with some initial success, but was eventually checked and repulsed
in a combined effort by the Allies in September. The battles of
the Ypres Salient claimed many lives on both sides and it quickly
became clear that the commemoration of members of the Commonwealth
forces with no known grave would have to be divided between several
different sites. The site of the Menin Gate was chosen because of
the hundreds of thousands of men who passed through it on their
way to the battlefields. It commemorates those of all Commonwealth
nations (except New Zealand) who died in the Salient, in the case
of United Kingdom casualties before 16 August 1917. Those United
Kingdom and New Zealand servicemen who died after that date are
named on the memorial at Tyne Cot, a site which marks the furthest
point reached by Commonwealth forces in Belgium until nearly the
end of the war. Other New Zealand casualties are commemorated on
memorials at Buttes New British Cemetery and Messines Ridge British
Cemetery. The YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL now bears the names of
more than 54,000 officers and men whose graves are not known. The
memorial, designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield with sculpture by Sir
William Reid-Dick, was unveiled by Lord Plumer in July 1927.

16/05/1915
Private 8436 Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers 2nd Bn. Age: 27 Service
LETOURET
MEMORIAL Son of the late Mr. and Mrs. William Gray, of Mourne View,
Ballynahinch, Co. Down. Came from Canada to enlist.

The
Memorial in Le Touret Military Cemetery, Richebourg-l'Avoue, is
one of those erected by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to
record the names of the officers and men who fell in the Great War
and whose graves are not known. It serves the area enclosed on the
North by the river Lys and a line drawn from Estaires to Fournes,
and on the South by the old Southern boundary of the First Army
about Grenay; and it covers the period from the arrival of the II
Corps in Flanders in 1914 to the eve of the Battle of Loos. It does
not include the names of officers and men of Canadian or Indian
Regiments; they are found on the Memorials at Vimy and Neuve-Chapelle.

Note:
The Military Medal was established in wartime Britain by King George
V on 25 March 1916, a year and a half after Britain declared war
against Germany. Its inception was intended to meet the enormous
demand for medals during the First World War.The medal was initially
awarded to NCOs and men of the Army (including the Royal Flying
Corps and Royal Naval Division) for individual or associated acts
of bravery which were insufficient to merit an award of the Distinguished
Conduct Medal (or DCM).

Note:
Bailleul was occupied on 14 October 1914 by the 19th Brigade and
the 4th Division. It became an important railhead, air depot and
hospital centre, with the 2nd, 3rd, 8th, 11th, 53rd, 1st Canadian
and 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Stations quartered in it for
considerable periods. It was a corps headquarters until July 1917,
when it was severely bombed and shelled, and after the Battle of
Bailleul (13-15 April 1918), it fell into German hands and was not
retaken until 30 August 1918. The earliest Commonwealth burials
at Bailleul were made at the east end of the communal cemetery and
in April 1915, when the space available had been filled, the extension
was opened on the east side of the cemetery. The extension was used
until April 1918, and again in September, and after the Armistice
graves were brought in from the neighbouring battlefields. BAILLEUL
COMMUNAL CEMETERY contains 610 Commonwealth burials of the First
World War; 17 of the graves were destroyed by shell fire and are
represented by special memorials. BAILLEUL COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION
contains 4,403 Commonwealth burials of the First World War; 11 of
the graves made in April 1918 were destroyed by shell fire and are
represented by special memorials. There are also 17 Commonwealth
burials of the Second World War and 154 German burials from both
wars. Both the Commonwealth plot in the communal cemetery and the
extension were designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

Note:
The Military Cross is awarded to commissioned and warrant officers
for distinguished and meritorious service in battle. For additional
acts of bravery, a straight silver bar was awarded. During the First
World War 2,885 of these medals were awarded to British officers.

KERR

Alex

25/10/1918
Rifleman 15072 Royal Irish Rifles 12th Bn. Age: 24 HARLEBEKE NEW
BRITISH CEMETERY Son of Elizabeth Kerr, of 28, Linview St., Grosvenor
Rd., Belfast,
and the late Robert Kerr.

Note:
Harlebeke village was taken on the night of 19-20 October 1918 by
the 9th (Scottish) Division. Harlebeke New British Cemetery was
made after the Armistice when graves were brought in from the surrounding
battlefields of 1918 and, in 1924-25, from German cemeteries or
plots in Belgium. The earlier concentrations are in Plots I and
X, and the later in Plots I, II and XI to XIX. In the latter group
are many graves of October 1914. In May 1940, The British Expeditionary
Force was involved in the later stages of the defence of Belgium
following the German invasion, and suffered many casualties in covering
the withdrawal to Dunkirk. Commonwealth forces did not return until
September 1944. The cemetery now contains 1,116 Commonwealth burials
and commemorations of the First World War. 181 of the burials are
unidentified and a special memorial is erected to one casualty who
is believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials record
the names of 19 casualties buried by the Germans in other burial
grounds whose graves could not be found on concentration. There
are also ten burials of the Second World War in the cemetery. The
cemetery was designed by W H Cowlishaw.

Note:
The village was held by British troops from the summer of 1915 to
March, 1918, when it was captured in the German Offensive on the
Somme; it was ruined by shell fire even before that date. It was
later "adopted by the Urban District of Leyton. The Military Cemetery
was used by Field Ambulances and fighting units from August, 1915
to December, 1916, and in 1917 and 1918 by Indian Labour Companies.
There are now over 450, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this
site. Of these, nearly 40 are unidentified and special memorials
are erected to 18 soldiers from the United Kingdom, known or believed
to be buried among them. The graves of two other German soldiers
have been removed. The cemetery covers an area of 2,650 square metres
and is enclosed by a low concrete curb.

Note:
During the two world wars, the United Kingdom became an island fortress
used for training troops and launching land, sea and air operations
around the globe. There are more than 170,000 Commonwealth war graves
in the United Kingdom, many being those of servicemen and women
killed on active service, or who later succumbed to wounds. Others
died in training accidents, or because of sickness or disease. The
graves, many of them privately owned and marked by private memorials,
will be found in more than 12,000 cemeteries and churchyards. In
December 1914, Liverpool became one of the 21 Auxiliary Patrol Bases
and in February 1915, the base of the 10th Cruiser Squadron. During
the Second World War, Liverpool was headquarters of Western Approaches
Command and a manning depot for officers and men of the Merchant
Navy who agreed to serve with the Royal Navy for the duration of
the war. A large Canadian hospital, which became No. 5 Canadian
General Hospital, opened at Kirkdale in July 1917 and of the 386
First World War burials in Liverpool (Kirkdale) Cemetery, more than
100 are Canadian. Of the remainder, 82 are of officers and men of
the King's (Liverpool) Regiment. About half of the graves from this
period are scattered throughout the cemetery and the rest are contained
in two war graves plots, where the names of the dead are recorded
on screen walls. There are also 115 Second World War burials in
the cemetery, nine of them in one of the First World War plots,
the rest scattered. This cemetery also contains nine war graves
of other nationalities. Originally, there were many more, including
American and German from the First World War and Belgian from both
wars, but these were later removed to other national cemeteries
in the United Kingdom or repatriated to their home country.

Note:
The cemetery was used throughout the 1914-1918 War for the burial
of sailors and soldiers who died on ships passing Gibraltar, or
in the Military Hospital. The 1914-1918 War Graves are scattered
in the different divisions of the cemetery. After that war, a Cross
of Sacrifice was erected to the West of the cemetery, close to the
sea, at the junction of the road into Spain and the Devil's Tower
Road. Twenty-three burials belong to H.M.S. "Britannia, sunk by
a submarine off Cape Trafalgar on the 9th November, 1918. There
are also many graves of merchant sailors who died during the war
from natural causes. The majority of the men who lost their lives
while at Gibraltar during the 1939-1945 War are buried here. Most
of their graves are in two adjacent plots at the northern end of
the cemetery, but some are also scattered in other parts. The cemetery
is situated on Crown land, and (with the exception of those privately
owned) all the War Graves in it are registered in perpetuity in
the Commission's name.

MELVILLE

Robert
Love

11/04/1916 Sapper, 57634 Royal Engineers 121st Field Coy. Age 19
BEAUVAL COMMUNAL CEMETERY Son of William and Eliza Jane Melville,
of DownPatrick, Co. Down

Note: Fins and Sorel were occupied
at the beginning of April, 1917, in the German Retreat to the Hindenburg
Line. They were lost on the 23rd March, 1918, after a stubborn defence
of Sorel by the 6th K.O.S.B. and the staff of the South African
Brigade; and they were regained in the following September. The
first British burials at Fins were carried out in the Churchyard
and the Churchyard Extension, and the New British Cemetery was not
begun until July, 1917. It was used by fighting units (especially
the 40th, 61st (South Midland) and 9th (Scottish) Divisions) and
Field Ambulances until March, 1918, when it comprised about 590
graves in Plots I to IV. It was then used by the Germans, who added
255 burials, including 26 British, in Plots IV, V, and VI. In September
and October, 1918, about 73 British soldiers were buried by the
33rd and other Divisions, partly in Plots I and II, but mainly in
Plots V and VI. Lastly, Plots VII and VIII were made, and other
Plots completed, by the concentration of 591 graves after Armistice
from Fins Churchyard Extension and other cemeteries and from the
surrounding battlefields. The cemeteries from which graves were
concentrated to Fins New British Cemetery were the following:- EQUANCOURT
CHURCHYARD, where three soldiers from the United Kingdom were buried
in 1917 and 1918. FINS CHURCHYARD, in which nine soldiers from the
United Kingdom were buried in April, 1917. FINS CHURCHYARD EXTENSION,
which was on the North side of the churchyard, within the enclosure
of a house. It contained the graves of 121 soldiers from the United
Kingdom and one from Canada, who fell in April July, 1917, and one
German soldier who fell in March, 1918. SOREL-LE-GRAND GERMAN CEMETERY,
on the West side of the village, opposite the Communal Cemetery.
Here were buried, some by the enemy and some by their comrades,
17 soldiers from the United Kingdom who fell in 1916-1918. There
are now 1289, First World War casualties commemorated in this site.
Of these 208 are unidentified, and special memorials are erected
to nine soldiers from the United Kingdom who are believed to be
buried among them. Another special memorial records the name of
a soldier from the United Kingdom, buried in Fins Churchyard Extension,
whose grave could not be found on concentration. Nine graves in
Plot VIII, Row E, identified as a whole but not individually, are
marked by headstones bearing the words: "Buried near this spot.
There are also 276 Foreign National casualties commemorated here.
This cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

Note:
Potijze was within the Allied lines during practically the whole
of the First Word War and although subject to incessant shell fire,
Potijze Chateau contained an advanced dressing station. Potijze
Chateau Grounds Cemetery was used from May 1915 to September 1918
and at the end of the war, consisted of Plot I. Plot II was formed
after the Armistice when graves were brought in from isolated sites
and small burial grounds to the north-east. A path separates the
cemetery from Potijze Chateau Lawn Cemetery, used from May to December
1915, July 1917 and October 1918. Potijze Chateau Grounds Cemetery
contains 476 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, 111 of
which are unidentified. The Lawn Cemetery contains 226 burials.
Both cemeteries were designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.